As a benchmark of how newspaper values have fallen, this is slightly less in cash terms than was offered for it in 2004. Should be a bit over £1bn.
06.03.2026 15:45
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As a benchmark of how newspaper values have fallen, this is slightly less in cash terms than was offered for it in 2004. Should be a bit over £1bn.
"On the internet, no one knows you're a <checks notes> regulator".
www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...
A new Ofcom investigation, this time into the provider of two online 'image board' services.
The fact of not naming the service, and the nature of duties the provider is alleged to be non-compliant in respect of, implies another low reach, high risk service.
www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...
'X had outlined several grounds in its application for a stay, claiming that the continuation of [CnaM's] investigation would cause the platform serious and irreparable harm.'
I have a long list of more pressing sources of 'serious and irreparable harm' facing X
www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
The EU Commission's expert panel looking into whether to implement a social media ban for kids had its first meeting today.
Recommendations to be finalised in summer. I wonder if they're allowed recommend to 'keep working with your existing tools'.
digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/...
Full report here: selectcommittees.parliament.nz/v/6/e05a9618...
Government has until June to respond.
New Zealand is moving towards a comprehensive online safety regulatory framework, with a new parliamentary report setting out recommendations for government.
Amongst them:
➡️DSA-style gradated content responsibility
➡️A new independent regulator, styled on the UK's Ofcom and IE's CnaM
I have no idea. But I'm sceptical that the 'average voter' - whom these messages seem to be aimed at - cares much how a given policy approach ranks vis-a-vis other countries. They just want it to 'work'.
The UK government comms zeitgeist that insists on framing every activity as 'world-leading' or 'world-beating' has now infiltrated the traditionally dry domain of public consultations. Is nothing sacred?
Six months ago, Labour conjured-up the slogan 'delivery, delivery, delivery' to describe its organising principle for government.
The idea that it's too 'complicated' to simply implement and enforce a law that <checks notes> is already in force doesn't bode well for 'delivery' writ large.
We're witnessing an increasing intersection of the data protection and content regulation domains, and it's going to keep policy and compliance pros on their toes in 2026.
I spoke to @techpolicypress.bsky.social about the latest example of this interplay.
www.techpolicy.press/privacy-regu...
The lesson this morning in British politics is the same one that's been delivered in every electoral moment since the mid-2010s:
Britons will keep voting for change until they see it.
⏰ Call for #tenders altert for public #discourse, #democracy, and #PoliticalScience researchers:
There is a new EU pilot project on "Advancing Social Cohesion in the Face of Polarized Public Discourse"
The project seeks to "produce concrete, actionable outcomes to better understand and address […]
This reminds me of a Brussels meeting, around the time of the EU Terrorist Content reg in 2017, wherein an EU staffer innocently suggested that it would be far easier to scrub the net of ISIS videos if Toyota was to simply exercise its IP rights over online imagery of its pick-up trucks.
More details on the event and how to register here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0d5b81...
Looking forward to joining this @brusselsprivacyhub.bsky.social webinar on the international regulatory horizon for protecting children online.
We'll be looking at the intersection between online safety and data protection; global regulatory coherence; and of course, social media bans for children.
Have you been struggling to bring coherence to a set of diffuse, partially-formed ideas in your mind, and then you find something that elegantly brings it all together?
This discussion has done just that for me. Fascinating listening on tech, deliberative democracy, and political imagination.
100% this. I am avid consumer of podcasts/newsletters on issue/interest specific topics, but when it comes to 'general' EN news and current affairs, the FT is my bedrock.
It's doing a commendable job of resisting the media corrosion from news hypercycles and engagement-driven algorithms.
The notion of 'polycentric' oversight (wherein regulators are just one of several supervisory stakeholders) is baked into the EU's theory of change for Big Tech regulation.
It's no wonder then that European NGOs and academics are in the MAGA crosshairs.
@ramshajahangir.bsky.social and I had pieces in @techpolicypress.bsky.social last month, dealing with the descriptive and aspirational elements to this intl coordination question, as it applies to online safety regulators
www.techpolicy.press/regulators-a...
www.techpolicy.press/how-a-small-...
Impressive joint-statement by over 60 (!) intl data protection regulators re the harms that can arise from AI image-generating tools (apropos to nothing).
Sets clear expectations for industry and signals a commitment to supervisory coordination across borders.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Yes to this. And worth noting that the Council of Europe (powered by @hutko.bsky.social) has developed an excellent set of draft recommendations on how to realise a more empowering online environment for children in line with FoE principles.
They should be adopted and operationalised at haste.
This seemed inevitable.
The value of public affairs advisory firms to corporate clients who want to remain discreet is their unapparent but real access to, and influence in, political circles.
Like gov special advisors, they themselves should never be the story. bbc.com/news/articles/cjd9zx7zne2o
Another day, another Ofcom fine levelled at a long-tail porn website for failure to adhere to the UK's age assurance requirements.
Probably too late to change Aylo's mind about website-level age assurance. ⤵️
p.s. the use of an asterisk when describing Ireland as a 'dove' in the EU Council is because I don't see Hungary and its approach to the US as being measurable on the same continuum.
The Council presidency is technically 'neutral' during its term, but like any Chair, it can shape discussions and outcomes. Expect to see a softening of the trend and rhetoric on strategic autonomy and de-risking, and a more assertive approach on regulatory 'simplification'.
I'm not sure it's yet properly appreciated outside Dublin that arguably the most dovish* Member State when it comes navigating the EU's geopolitical challenges with the US will be holding the EU Council presidency in the second half of this year.
While this Freedom[dot]Gov domain now shows a holding page—saying "reclaim your human right to free expression"—it also appears to be the same US government domain that was used for a 'Victory in Iraq' site more than two decades ago
Archived version: web.archive.org/web/20040110...
Ah interesting. If the OSA isn't relevant in this context, I guess the question turns on the service's requirements under the Terrorism Act, etc for the hosting of illegal content and precedent for ISP access blocking under those legislations?
When the access blocking provisions of the EU Digital Services Act and the UK Online Safety Act were being drafted, I doubt anyone anticipated that one of their early use cases might be vis-a-vis a .gov domain name. 2026 in tech policy continues to surpass itself 😶🌫️